


Jungle Predator 2

by Swords_and_Skateboards



Series: The Emerald Isles-AU [1]
Category: Sonic Boom (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Knuckles is OOC for the BOOM-verse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22634656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swords_and_Skateboards/pseuds/Swords_and_Skateboards
Summary: What began as a simple afternoon of playing Jungle Predator again, Sonic and Co. find themselves in the midst of volcanos, badniks, and baddies, all whilst trying to figure out just how on earth things like emeralds and Knuckles' newfound intellect have come to pass.
Relationships: Amy Rose & Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose & Sticks the Badger, Everyone & Everyone, Knuckles the Echidna & Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna & Sticks the Badger, Miles "Tails" Prower & Sonic the Hedgehog
Series: The Emerald Isles-AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654270
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	1. All Fun and Games

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first Sonic Boom fic, a type of canon-divergence based on what my friend punkinspice and I came to think of had Sonic Boom either gotten another season, or had been able to run with some of the more common elements of other canon.

Sonic and the gang are out playing jungle predator once again, Sonic as the predator, _again_ , doing his best to not speed around too fast. Tails was his target, he’d gotten Knuckles earlier, so he was waiting back at the starting point. Ever since the last game where they’d found the largest gem in the world Knuckles had changed dramatically, almost like he’d regained memories nobody had ever known he’d lost. Along with some weird knowledge about emeralds. Anywho. Tails, Tails was his target, but unfortunately he and the girls had a solid plan. Tails had a minor warning alarm system constructed out of jungle vines surrounding the clearing that he was in, Amy not far away, wielding the typical jungle predator weapon. Sonic slowly crept forward, the two were whispering, and Sticks was nowhere to be seen, either she’d left the others in favor of saving herself or she was somewhere nearby. Hard to tell some days. Stepping over the vine Sonic slowly inched forward, only for a small pocket of grasses beneath his feet to give way.  
“H-HEY!”  
Sonic’s voice caused Tails and Amy to turn quickly and race to their trap. “Nice going Sticks! He didn’t see it coming!” Amy called further into the brush, where Sticks lay hidden with the supports to the grasses that covered the trap neatly beside her.  
“Of course he didn’t, that’s the point.” Sticks replied.  
But, the joy only lasted a moment, as a whirl of blue and fast moving air gushed past them and out from the hole. Amy held her weapon up, not a moment too soon as Sonic’s staff smacked squarely in the center, vibrating in her hands. Before she could turn around, Sticks yelling rang out as she charged at Sonic. Sonic stepped aside, Sticks charge rushing harmlessly past him.  
“Traps, really, you gotta do better than just some deep hole to get me out of the game.”  
“That’s what we were planning on!” Amy growled, charging herself with a series of blows. Sonic chuckling, but the nervousness was there. It’s never fun to be on the opposite side of Amy’s attacks.  
Then, a flash of yellow caught his eye. Tails. He knew he should’ve aimed for him as soon as he’d gotten out of their trap but Amy had been closer. “You know, Ames, you really need to watch your footing in the jungle, all kinds of things can trip you up.”  
“I’m!.. Not!.. Falling!.. For it!… Sonic!” Each word matching with a blow deflected by Sonic.  
“Tried to warn ya!” Sonic said, jumping back with a smirk.  
Amy charged forward again. Or tried to anyway. Stray vines that had been attached to the key of their trap was now part of Sonic’s, and Amy was right in the middle of them. A quick tug and a tangle of vines were caught up around Amy’s feet, throwing her off balance.  
“Hey!—WHOA!” A light tap on her head, and a somewhat smug grin later, Amy was out of the game.  
But, Sonic had to be on his toes. Sticks was still here and she charged at him from behind while he gloated. She got close, a little too close for comfort as Sonic nearly fell out of the way of a jump attack.  
“You’ll never take me alive!” Sticks growled.  
“Gee Sticks, really getting into the role today.”  
“Might want to watch out Sonic,” Amy said while she detangled herself from the vines. “She’s been antsy all morning.”  
“Oh great.” Sonic mumbled. _Just what I needed for a round of Jungle Predator. And I lost sight of Tails._  
Sonic readied his weapon, Sticks charged him relentlessly. Sonics best option now was to get out of range. Sidestepping a particularly strong swipe Sonic launched himself back into the underbrush of the jungle, all to aware Tails could be waiting in the undergrowth. Racing up the side of a tree, Sonic looked down as Sticks watched him keenly.  
“You better get down here Sonic, those trees’ll listen to anything you say, and they don’t care who they tell it too.”  
“Sure thing, Sticks.” Sonic glanced around some more, then—there! A tiny tuft of white fur peeked out from the foliage a short ways away.  
“Ya know, Sticks. I get the feeling you’re right.”  
“Of course I’m right, you don’t live around here forever and know nothin.”  
Then, in a moment of several actions, Sonic leapt to the next tree over where Tails’ tails rapidly vanished, and Sonic’s staff made contact with empty space.  
“What the—Yikes!”  
Ducking down to avoid Tails attack, Sonic struck straight out with his staff, knocking Tails feet out from underneath him.  
“Oof!” Tails fell on his back, and Sonic’s staff bumped him lightly on the chest, “Well played, Buddy!” Sonic grinned.  
“Aw shucks, I thought for sure we had you this time!” Tails grumbled as they both descended to the jungle floor.  
“Well, that’s everybody.” Sonic said chipperly.  
“Hey! What about me?” Sticks asked indignantly near Sonic’s shoulder. A quick bat on the head from Sonic’s staff quickly silencing her.  
“And that’s four!” Sonic said.  
“Ooooooh, you…” Sticks looked like she could decide if she should be proud or concerned. She somehow managed to look both at the same time.  
“So Sticks is it again. Somehow I’m not looking forward to our next game.” Tails said.


	2. House Rules

The group had regathered at the starting point, the large glowing green emerald that Knuckles continued to have a growing fascination with.  
“Alright gang, round 2. Sticks, you’re the predator, give us a—“  
“Uh, Sonic, she’s already gone.” Tails said, smiling nervously.  
“… head start. Guess we’re going house rules.”  
“I hate house rules.” Amy said, gripping her staff. “There’s little to no advantage for the players. And the predator gets to make traps!”  
“Well that’s house rules.” Knuckles said, picking up his staff as he walked away from the giant emerald he’d been leaning on. “So let’s bring down the house.”  
“I don’t know how that works, but let’s do it!” Sonic agreed, the excitement returning to his voice. “All right gang, move out!”

Sticks raced along the jungle floor, shadow to shadow, bush to bush, until she was certain—as certain as a paranoid badger with distrust of the government and complete satellite observation—as she could be that nobody could see her. Snickering to herself as she began to string several hidden webbings of vines together in the trees, she felt rather pleased with herself. As long as neither Amy or Sonic noticed you leaving, house rules would stand. Sticks favorite kind.  
She hadn’t been at work long before she could hear her friends in the distance.  
“Shoot, I thought for sure Amy would talk for another five minutes. Grrr—pheh!” Tearing off the end of one of the vines, she swung a good ways away, shimmying down another tree and waiting. She’d gotten two traps ready, all that she needed now was the lure them in.

“Keep your eyes peeled gang, Sticks could have traps literally everywhere. Trust me.” Sonic said, trying to hide his nervousness.

_If this was anything like last time they played, and Sticks forgot that there was a time limit to how long the predator had before they were declared the loser, the game had unfortunately gone on for the rest of the week._

Sonic shook his head as the memories of coming back home to a boobytrap hammock and dart board came to mind. He shuddered.  
“You okay Sonic?” Tails asked.  
“Yeah. Let’s try this way,” he motioned to the west. “Sticks favors going south.”

_“Aw, he remembered where my fourth bunker is!”_ Sticks thought to herself. _“Guess I gotta get rid of that one now.”_

They went on without hitch for several minutes, which only put them more on edge. Twice Tails had freaked out when some bushes rattled, Amy had smashed a fallen tree, and Knuckles nearly took them all out with a wide swing as some loose leaves fell on top of them.  
“Okay, this is way too out of character.” Sonic muttered.  
A tingling in his quills and a small breath of wind put Sonic on red alert. “EVERYBODY DOWN!” He yelled.  
Four friends hit the dirt as a weighted net sailed overhead, a cackling filling the woods around them.  
“She’s got nets? Since when are nets allowed?” Tails exclaimed.  
“Ever since _house rules_ were initiated. I told you all I hated house rules!” Amy snapped.  
“Then like I said!” Knuckles grinned, “Let’s bring down the house!” Standing up with a yell and rushing toward where the net had come from, Knuckles charged. The remaining three friends looked at one another in confusion for a moment, before yelling and charging as well.  
When they had reached a small clearing, the evidence of Sticks was evident. In that there was almost no evidence aside from a small note saying “Sticks was never here!” followed by an angry face.  
“I feel like we’re playing opposite than usual.” Amy remarked, “Shouldn’t she be coming after us?”

As Amy was done speaking, a rustling came from above them and a large vine net dropped over the four of them.  
“GAH!”  
“HEY!”  
“OoooOH!”  
“STIIIIIIIICKS!”  
As the four struggled to get free, more laughing could be heard.  
“Knuckles! Tear the vines!” Amy said, trying to remain calm. This was getting a little too real.  
Knuckles grabbed the vine net and tore it like it was nothing. _He really has changed since we found that emerald._  
As the four began to retreat from the clearing, a cry went up from behind them.  
“TAILS!” Sonic reached out, grabbing Tails as something seemed to be pulling him into the undergrowth.  
“Help!” Tails’ staff fell as he used both hands to cling to Sonic, but to both of their shock, they were both now being dragged forward.  
Sonic held tight, then the hands of Knuckles and Amy joined his to pull them both back away from the brush. As Tails came clear of the undergrowth, they all shot backward into the clearing.  
“What was—what was THAT!?” Amy demanded.  
“What was what?” Knuckles asked, rubbing the back of his head.  
“That wasn’t Sticks.” Sonic said, looking into the bushes. “You okay, Buddy?”  
“Yeah, but whatever that was…” Tails’ paws formed into fists. “Is not legal house rules.”

Eggman chuckled darkly as his spy-bots flitted around the jungle canopy, watching Team Sonic’s every move as they played their silly little game. Granted, he’d been surprised to see the crazy badger pull a stunt like she had. He really didn’t think she had it in her! _‘Granted, I don’t know what’s still in there in the first place, but that’s beside the point!’_  
“ORB-BOT! CUBE-BOT!”  
“Yes, Sir?” Orb-bot’s voice came from around his right elbow.  
“AH! Don’t sneak up on me like that again, or I’ll turn you into scrap!”  
“Yes, Sir.” Orb-bot’s apathetic voice sailing over Eggman’s head, all the better for him at the moment.  
“I need you to make sure that my Egg-mobile is fully fueled and charged. Oh! And bring me some popcorn, extra butter!”  
“Whatever you say, Sir.”  
As Orb-bot and Cube-Bot went to fulfill their duties, the giddy yet sinister laughing of Eggman could be heard wafting through the halls of Eggman’s Fortress.

“Okay everybody, keep your eyes peeled. Sticks is on a whole new level this time.” Sonic said in a low voice, the others nodding in response while in their small sports style huddle.  
“I am?” Sticks asked.  
“Yeah, and we need to—!”  
Sticks stood calmly as the others quickly retreated from her, weapons at the ready.  
“Sticks! What are you doing?” Amy asked. Lowering her staff for a moment.  
“I fell asleep waiting for you guys, then I realized you might’ve gotten lost, and if you had gotten lost and I couldn’t find you that I’d have first dibs on your stuff, but I’d have to come and find you to make sure I couldn’t find you.”  
Silence.  
“So… that really wasn’t you that tried to take Tails?” Sonic asked.  
“Not unless there’s two of me. Which there is, but we have a mutual agreement that we’re never on the same planet at the same time. Helps avoid legal issues. Sounds to me like you ran into somebody else.”  
“Who else would be out here, nobody else on the island even likes to set foot outside of the village.”  
“Search me.” Sticks said, crossing her arms.  
But before anyone else could say a word, a low rumble interrupted the group, the ground shaking with a slight tremor.  
“I think we might’ve overstayed our welcome.” Amy said.  
“I agree!” Sonic said, “Everybody back to the beach!”

The race back to the beach was nerve wracking. Fallen branches seemed to trip them up at every step, and hanging vines caught onto them whenever Tails tried to fly them any faster. But they all arrived at the empty beach before the sun had begun to set.  
“I… think… that’s enough… Jungle Predator, for a long… LONG time!” Amy gasped out as they all caught their breath.  
A unanimous group of yes’s rang across the beach. Before long, however, they were all walking back to Tails house in relative calmness, convincing each other that maybe it had just been the volcano giving a small quake.  
But from the edges of the forest, a pair of yellow glowing eyes watched. Blinked. And vanished.


	3. Missing

Tails was happily humming as he tinkered in his workshop on his newest project, the Seismometer 3000! Designed so that even in the air above the island he’d be able to detect any new seismic quakes from the volcano. Better safe than sorry!  
A rumble outside caused him to prick his ears up, looking out of his shop window, screwdriver still in hand.  
“I hope we won’t have to vent the pressure again.” He said to himself.  
“I do to.”  
“Last time it was a real–“ Tails turned around as he realized another voice had spoken. Crying out before something seemed to encase him.

Sonic walked along, the rumbling of the earth not escaping his notice. _Better hurry and meet up with Tails, venting the volcano last time was no picnic._ But as he approached Tails shop, reaching for the door handle, he saw that the door was ajar.  
“Tails? Hellooo?”  
The last time he’d rushed in with an ajar door he’d been met by a salsa machine that didn’t know when to stop making salsa and chips, ordinarily not a bad thing, but you’d be surprised just how hard it is to avoid salsa when your server is a robot.  
Pushing the door open Sonic was met with an empty workshop.  
“Must be flying the tornad…oh.” Tails plane was sparkly clean, the surfaces of his workspace impeccably so.  
 _Something was very wrong._

“Amy!” Sonic burst into Amy’s house, the pink hedgehog nearly dropping her teacup as he suddenly appeared.  
“Sonic! What have I told you about _knocking_?”  
“Sorry Amy, but—“  
“Ah ah ah, try again.”  
“Really?”  
“Sonic.”  
“Ughhhh….” Sonic closed the door, knocked… waited. Knocking again more rigorously, “Come in!” Amy called happily.  
Racing in again, Sonic spoke before Amy had the chance to tell him to wipe his shoes too. “Have you seen Tails, he isn’t at his workshop and the whole thing is clean.”  
“You mean he finally took my advice and started organizing all his stuff?” Amy asked drolly.  
“No I mean there isn’t even an oil spill… On the OIL DRIPS.”  
Amy set down her cup, grabbing her hammer from the wall where it was mounted. “Well why didn’t you just say something was wrong?” She said, stomping out of the house.  
“I tried, you made me knock twice.”  
“Don’t put this on me!”

A quick recon of the village showed no Tails. Knuckles hadn’t seen him around the plateau where the emerald was any time recently, and Sticks hadn’t left her house that day; or so she said.  
“Well, there’s only one place left to look.” Amy said.

“GIVE IT UP, EGGMAN!” Sonic declared, the large fortress door hitting the floor with a loud bang.  
“SONIC!” Eggman nearly screeched. “For the last time, PLEASE, try opening it first. I don’t even keep it locked anymore with how often you rodents keep coming in here.”  
“Hence why you should probably lock it.” Amy said.  
“If I did you’d break the door down even more—that’s not the point! Why are you here? I haven’t even attacked you yet. Not that I was.. planning to.”  
“Where’s Tails?” Sonic demanded.  
“And what are you planning?” Knuckles asked, cracking his knuckles.  
“Okay, okay!” Eggman smiled nervously, taking a small step back towards his control panel. “I’ll admit I was thinking of sending a swarm of bee bots out later, but… as for Tails. I haven’t seen him since our last fight.”  
“What?”  
The group shared equally concerned looks.  
“What’s with all the staring? You gonna fix my door or not while you're here, ‘cause if not I’d rather you leave. I’ve got some evil planning to do.”

A short while later, the four friends stood outside Tails garage, Sonic punching in the code to the door.  
“Are you sure what’s inside will help us find Tails, you know his inventions have a tendency to backfire.”  
“Trust me,” Sonic grinned, the door slowly rising up. “These won’t.”  
“What’s insi—ooooh!” The three others ooh-ed and aah-ed as the door finished opening.  
“Are you sure we should take these? He might not like us touching his stuff.” Amy said.  
“Who cares!” Knuckled raced forward, “I call the red one!”

“ _Sonic, I’ve just reached the first clearing where we got hit with the net. You should head over here as soon as you can._ ” Amy’s voice crackled over the radio as Sonic floored the accelerator. “On my way! Let’s go Knuckles!”  
“Roger!” Knuckles said, giving Sonic a thumbs up as he and his red vehicle followed close behind.  
The light blue vehicle streaked across the ground like Sonic himself. The car-turn-hovercraft, a special project Tails had been “hiding” away from the gang was speedy, and maneuverable.  
The vehicle sailed over the edge of the plateau where Sonic and Knuckles had met up, the whole thing transforming as it descended towards the jungle. Once a car, now fully hovercraft Sonic and Knuckles met up with Amy in almost no time at all.  
“What’s the sitch?” Sonic asked.  
“A trail, not Tails’, but definitely whatever was here yesterday. Sticks went on ahead to scout it out.”  
“Then let’s roll.”

They didn’t have far to go before they ran into Sticks, who was the only one of them who hadn’t taken a hovercraft.  
“What’d you find, Sticks?”  
“Somethin’ big’s in these woods. And I don’t mean Big.” Sticks replied, motioning to a large swath of plant life that had been trampled in a long path leading towards one of the large outcroppings of rock that were all over the jungle.  
“Mount Safety…” Sonic said quietly.


	4. Inside the Mountain

The gang arrived at the base of Mt. Safety, and the trail they were following suddenly stopped.  
“Great, now what?” Amy asked.  
Leaving their vehicles, they began to snoop around the area. Nothing for a while until Sticks let out a holler. “I found somethin!”  
The other three rushed over to where Sticks was, the four now looking at a small tunnel in the ground leading under the rock. The surrounding ground and rock face littered with woodland debris.  
“Somebody’s trying to keep a low profile.” Sonic said. “Knuckles, would you knock for us, good buddy?”  
“With pleasure!” Knuckles grinned, pounding his fists together before pulling on arm back, then smashing the rock above the opening with a mini seismic quake of his own. As the dust cleared, what was once a small opening was now large enough for even Knuckles to comfortably fit through to the other side. “I give you, the front door!”

Tails groaned as he began to open his eyes. Whatever it was that was in his shop had knocked him out. Better locks were definitely in order. But as he opened his eyes fully, Tails saw he was no longer in his workshop.  
“Holy Cannoli!”  
He was, in fact, inside a cave, the warmth of the rocks telling him it was most likely the volcano. The heat from the rocks was warm, but not too bad. He wasn’t being held in anything, but the small cave like hollow he was in didn’t seem to be too far down in the volcano. The dull glow from what was undoubtably lava illuminated the cave, but not quite enough.  
“It’s a good thing I charged the batteries on these puppies after we got back home.” He said to himself, turning on the illuminating fibers that ran through his belt and gloves, the space now considerably well lit.  
“Of course now Sonic’s and the other’s will be lighting up too if they’re in the vicinity. I guess I should give them their own controls next chance I get.”

“DEMONS! GHOSTS! BEGON EVIL SPIRITS!”  
They hadn’t been walking very far before the light from the opening wasn’t helping them see anything when their tech and gear had begun to glow brightly as Tails’ had done.  
“Sticks, calm down. It’s just the tech Tails installed into our gear.” Amy said, waiting for Sticks to come out from behind a large rock that lay in the middle of the tunnel they were slowly making their way down.  
“And there’s only one person who can turn these things on, come on guys!” Sonic exclaimed, racing down the corridor. “We’re coming buddy!”  
“Sonic, wait up!” Amy called after him, but Sonic was already out of sight.

Tails looked over the edge, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He was inside the volcano, and not only that, but there was a controlled lava flow inside it! There was something around where the magma was coming out of the earth, but he’d have to get closer to figure out what. “Guess that’ll have to wait for later. First, I’ve gotta get out of here!”

Knuckles was huffing heavily, but Sonic was still in sight. Either he’d gotten faster or Sonic had gotten slower. _As if Sonic would get slower. But still._  
“Hey Sonic!” Knuckles called out, “Do you feel that?”  
Sonic slid to a stop, waiting for Knuckles to get closer. “The heat?”  
“Yeah, it’s getting kinda warm, even for an underground tunnel.”  
“I see what you mean…” Sonic looked around, kneeling down and picking up some small rocks that lay in abundance around them. “We’re probably getting close to the base of the volcano. We should watch our step.”  
“Yeah.”  
“I’ll go ahead a little bit and scout it out, you wait for Amy and Sticks. Back in a flash!”

Tails gave one last look at where he was aiming for near what would hopefully be the opening of the volcano. If the distance wasn’t too far he should be able to make it in one quick flight, if not, then his electro-rope was at the ready. “Okay, here goes nothing!”  
Pushing off with a running start, Tails launched into the air inside the volcano. Heading upwards the opening of the volcano became more visible, but it was a bit farther than he’d anticipated. _Okay Tails, keep cool. The distance isn’t too far, ready, aim… release!_ The elctro-rope shot out like a light in the dark, catching hold of an outcropping in the rock just above him. Hanging onto the rope, standing on the side of the wall Tails could see he was directly above what he couldn’t see before.  
“I don’t believe it!”

“Knuckles!” Amy waved as she and Sticks came into view. “Where’s Sonic?”  
“He went up ahead to check things out, he should be back—“  
A gust of wind and blue light appeared in their midst.  
“—right about now.”  
“Alright gang, the tunnel opens up, but we’ve got a new problem.” Sonic said.  
“What is it?” Amy asked.  
“Lava, and a lot of it.”


	5. Chaos

Before the group was a wide expanse of lava, dotted with rocks and “safe” spots to land on.  
“What is this, a video game? Who in their right mind is going to—SONIC!” Amy reached out, but Sonic was already hopping from one rock to another, grinning back at the others.  
“Last one there’s a rotten Meh Burger!” He paused, the others beginning to find their own ways across. “Which, now that I think about it might just be a regular Meh Burger…” He shook his head. “Nevermind. First one across wins!”  
“You had a head start!”  
“Good thing we have our own specialities.” Knuckles grinned, pounding his fists together once more. Running forward, Knuckles almost seemed to glide to the nearest rock, landing with relative ease.  
“Come on!”  
Sticks jumped nimbly to the rock nearest her, holding a hand out to Amy. “What say we team up?”  
Amy grinned, jumping to the same platform as Sticks. “Let’s do this!” Amy said, a glint coming into her eyes.

Tails was now near the bottom of the volcano, the surface not too bad for heat. But what he was now in front of only puzzled him even more. Seven gems, each one easily the size of Knuckle’s fist and visually identical to the huge one they’d found not that long ago, lay partially embedded in the volcanic rock. The light around them seeming to ebb and grow the more he watched them.  
“What are you?” He asked the gems.  
“They’re the Emeralds.”  
Tails pulled out his electro-rope once again as the voice that had been in his shop before he’d blacked out spoke behind him.  
“Stand back!” Tails said, sounding a more nervous than he’d intended.  
Before him was a creature, appearing almost as if it was made of shadow. As it moved closer the inky blackness of it remained, but two glowing eyes became visible.  
“You have been here before, young fox. You and your friends.” The voice, which Tails had assumed was coming from the creature, now seemed to come from the air around him.  
“We vented off the extra pressure to keep the volcano from exploding. But, there wasn’t anything like this… or you… here before.”  
“But we were.” The voice sounded old, and the being made no further movement. “When the pressure was released, and the lava was allowed to recede, this cavern became exposed.” The being seemed to motion what Tails assumed was an arm to the area around them. “The emeralds have been here for a long time, as have I.”  
“And… who are you? Not to be rude or anything! But, uh, you did _kind_ of kidnap me…”  
“I am Chaos.” The voice stated, not threatening or mournfully, more as a fact. “I have been alive for centuries upon centuries, and may continue to, should the emeralds remain a part of this world. Which is why I have need of your help, young fox. The volcano is becoming unstable again, and this time I fear that simply venting off the pressure may not be the solution.”  
“So, what is it you want me to do?” Tails asked, quite unsure of whether or not this whole thing was a dream at this point.  
“I wish for you to take the emeralds from their resting place, and return them to the Master Emerald.”  
“Master Emerald? You mean that huge green gem that Knuckles found!?”  
“Yes, the guardian awakened the Master Emerald, and with it, me.” The voice replied, “What you see before you is the last remnants of my power, and asking for your help seemed the last thing that I could do.”  
Tails looked around the volcano, then back to the creature. “What will happen once these emeralds are with the Master Emerald?  
“They will be recharged, their power renewed. And the guardian’s own power will be restored as well.”  
“Guardian?” Tails asked. Now realizing he hadn’t given that word much thought.  
“The Echidna you have referred to as, ’Knuckles’.” The voice said patiently. “He is of greater importance than I think even he realizes.  
 _I’m guessing this ‘Chaos’ hasn’t actually met Knuckles._ Tails thought to himself.

“Hah! I win!” Knuckles declared, standing proudly on the edge of the other side of the small lava lake, the others following seconds after.  
“Gotta hand it to ya, Knux, that was some fancy moves!” Sonic said, trying to not hide slight disappointment. But Knuckles was busy doing a small victory dance before Amy interrupted.  
“I’m glad you’re having fun, but in case you haven’t noticed? The lava’s a bit higher than it was when we started out.”  
Sonic looked behind them, Knuckles stopping in his dancing to see where they’d just crossed. Several of the rocks they had used as platforms were under the lava’s surface, and some of the smaller ones visibly shrinking.  
“Then let’s not hang around.” Sonic said, heading for the tunnel leading out and up from where they were, the others following quickly behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introducing Chaos! Although, this version is more appropriately named 'Void Chaos' so I don't know if it counts as a completely separate character, or just a different take on it.


	6. Out of the Frying Pan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and into the fire.

Tails slid the last of the seven gems into a bag he pulled from his utility belt. It’d taken a while to free them from the lava rock, and the heat was getting intense.  
“Okay, here I go!” Tails pushed himself off the ground, and was now flying back up towards the mouth of the volcano.

“Look!” Sticks said, pointing up ahead in the tunnel where the gang was now heading. “I think I see an exit!”  
“And not a moment too soon.” Sonic said quietly, the light from the slowly rising lava had been nearly on their heels most of the trek through the tunnel. But up ahead he could now clearly see another light source, a paler yellow tint to the light. Then it seemed to vanish.  
“Keep going, I’m gonna catch that light!” Sonic said to the others, bursting ahead and out of the remaining tunnel in mere moments.  
“TAILS!” Sonic’s hold body filled with relief as he saw his friend flying. Tails turned midair, a large smile crossing his face.  
“Sonic!”  
Coming down like a rocket Tails laughed as Sonic ruffled the fur between his ears. “What happened to you little buddy?” Sonic asked.  
“Well, it’s kind of a long story…” Tails said slowly. But before he could say more, the others all came out of the tunnel.  
“Tails, you’re all right!” Amy said, hugging her friend.  
“Oof! Yeah,” Tails grinned as he felt his joints want to pop. “Glad to see you guys!”  
But before more could be said, a low rumbling grew around them, the ground beginning to shudder beneath their feet.  
“We should probably go.” Sonic said, the rumbling subsiding, but only slightly.  
“Well that’s fine for you two,” Amy said, motioning to Tails and Sonic, “But what about the rest of us.”  
“Don’t count me out,” Knuckles said, “I can climb just as well as any Echidna.”  
Sonic turned away from the increasing red glow from the tunnel they’d come from. Giving the cavern a quick once over before speaking. “I’ve got a plan.”

“I don’t like this plan!” Amy nearly shrieked, closing her eyes tightly as Tails continued to carry her past the halfway point of the volcano.  
“We’re almost there, Amy!” Tails said, moving closer to the wall, propelling himself further up as he pushed off the rock.  
Knuckles wasn’t far behind, his knuckles cracking through the rocks to find holds where the other’s would’ve found none, Sticks hanging onto one of his shoulders, occasionally scrambling on her own further up the wall at the rougher parts.  
“Tails, this way!” Sonic called from slightly higher up, the bag Tails had used to hold the emeralds slung across his back.  
Tails landed beside Sonic at the outcropping, Amy sighing with relief as she stood on the rock. “How you doin’ Tails?” Sonic asked.  
“Just need a breather.” Tails said, breathing a little heavily.  
“We can wait a bit,” Amy said, “Sonic you should see if Sticks and Knuckles need any help.”  
“Roger that.” Sonic saluted, speeding off along the wall towards the others.

“Need a hand?” Sonic held a hand out to Sticks, who was gamely holding her weight while Knuckles took a breather behind her. Taking Sonic’s hand, Sticks was pulled up to the next small area. “Say, Sonic, what’s in the bag anyway?”  
“I don’t actually know, but it’s heavy. Tails said he’d explain once we were outside.”  
“Whatever they are, they sure do feel like the emerald back at our mountain.” Knuckles said, heaving himself up to where the others were standing.  
“How the—“ Sonic’s wondering was cut off from a shout from Amy.  
“Sonic! You guys better hurry up!”  
Looking down, Sonic could see that the entire bottom of the volcano where they had all been standing a short while earlier was now completely covered with lava.  
“Knuckles, you take this. I’ll run Sticks up to where Amy and Tails are.” Sonic handed the bag to Knuckles, who seemed to be focusing rather hard. “Ready, Sticks?”  
“As I’ll ever be.” Sticks said, clearly unenthusiastic about being carried up a wall of rock at light speeds.  
 _Don’t smile. Don’t smile. Don’t smile or she’ll kick you for it later._

“Orb-bot, Cube-bot, are my forces fueled and ready?” Eggman’s lair was dark, his focus on the large screens before him, various angles of Sonic and his friends strung across them.  
“Ready and awaiting your orders, Sir.” Orb-bot said.  
“Yeah, and they’re ready to be told what to do to!” Cube-bot added.  
“Perfect!” Eggman stood up, turning and walking quickly to his Egg-mobile. “This will be perfect!”

“Hurry, Knuckles!” Tails called down to his friend, lifting Sticks into the air to follow Sonic, who now carried Amy further up the volcano. They were all almost to the top, and the lava below had begun to bubble in earnest now.  
Knuckles pushed himself up again, the rocks were easier to grab onto here, but the walls were getting steeper. “Don’t worry, just catching my breath!” Knuckles grinned up at Tails, who didn’t seem convinced.

Sonic set Amy down, they’d reached the edge of the mouth of the volcano. “I’m gonna see if I can help Knuckles.”  
“Be careful Sonic, the volcano’s becoming more unstable by the minute.”  
“All the more reason to go back down there.”  
“I’ll take you down.” Tails had just crossed the threshold of the rock, setting Sticks down, breathing hard.  
“You stay here, Tails. You’ve done a lot of flying.”  
“I’m fine, I just need a second.” Tails said, feeling like he was outnumbered.  
“And in a second I’ll be back, with Knuckles. You three start making your way back to the hovercrafts, Knuckles and I’ll be waiting.” Sonic gave a thumbs up, and then sped off back down into the volcano.  
“You heard him,” Amy said starkly. “Let’s move!”

“Yo, Knux! This isn’t the best place to go sightseeing.” Sonic’s voice rang out through the cavern, propping himself up on some of the rougher rocks a short ways above Knuckles.  
“Well, ya know, I always wanted to go spelunking, this seemed the best place to start!” Knuckles called back up.  
“Sonic! Knuckles!”  
Sonic turned as Amy’s voice came from beside him.  
“Amy, what are you doing here?”  
“Helping you and Knuckles. Sticks spotted Eggman’s robots not that far off, so we need all hands on deck.”  
“I don’t see how we can help Knuckles climb any faster.” Sonic said, watching the ever rising lava, the slow pace no longer providing any comfort.  
“We won’t,” Amy said, uncurling a pink electro-rope. “We’re going to use Knuckles own momentum to swing him up.”

“I don’t know how I feel about this plan.” Knuckles said, wrapping the end of Amy’s electro-rope around his free hand.  
“Just push off as hard as you can, Sonic and I will be the anchor!” Amy called down.  
“And if not we’ll all be barbecue.” Knuckles whispered.  
“What Knuckles?” Sonic asked.  
“Nothing! Whenever you’re ready!”  
 _I’m gonna die._

“Push off, Knuckles!” Amy said, she and Sonic both holding the end with all their might, the rock now being used as a middle anchor not providing very much distribution as Knuckles shoved off from where he’d been climbing.  
The two hedgehogs strained against the rope, Knuckles pulling heavily against the two of them as he swung to the other side of the cavern. Either there’d been more to his push than they’d expected, or just dumb luck, Knuckles ended up well over half the distance left above where he’d been before.  
“Hang on! I’ll pull you two up!”  
Within seconds, the three of them had covered more than half the distance left to climb.  
“I can make it from here.” Knuckles said, readjusting Tails bag on his back. “You two get up there and lower the rope down.”  
“We’ll be waiting!” Amy said, just before Sonic raced up the wall carrying her with him.

But when Sonic arrived at the top this time, what met him and Amy was a wall of badniks.  
“Well, well, Sonic. Fancy running into you, at the entrance of a volcano no less?”  
“Eggman!” Sonic glared as the undeniable of silhouette of Eggman’s egg-mobile rose from behind the robots.


	7. It's Smashing Time

Knuckles glanced up at the mouth of the volcano from his position. Sonic’s voice had been muffled by the low roaring below him, but the lack of electro-rope told Knuckles that something else was going on.  
“Hmph. Great.” Knuckles grabbed hold of the next rock up, muttering. “Next time Sonic wants to explore a volcano he can do it without me.” As he continued to gripe, a still sparking piece of robot was flung past him and into the lava below.  
“And now I’m missing out on some bot smashing, perfect.”

“What’s all this about, Eggman?” Sonic asked, spin dashing against several bug-bots before landing on top of a crab-bot.  
“Oh the usual, power, glory, world domination. Take your pick!” Eggman replied, clearly enjoying the whole thing.  
“You do know you’re attacking us over an unstable volcano, right? HI-YA!” Amy smashed two bug-bots, avoiding a third as it raced by her.  
“Of course I do, that’s _why_ I’m attacking you. All of you perfectly distracted while I take the gems that fox friend of yours so graciously found for me.”  
“Gems?” Sonic asked, taking out several bee-bots around him. “What kind of gems would you find at the bottom of a volcano?”  
“Well since you asked—“  
“Yo, Sonic!”  
The ground shook under Eggman’s forces as Knuckles struck the ground hard with his fists, sending most of them off balance.  
“Knuckles!” Amy and Sonic both exclaimed.  
“Bee-bots, grab that bag!”  
Knuckles swatted at the robots that now surrounded him, Sonic and Amy doing their best to keep the rest of the now recovering bots in check. But a blast at his shoulder sent Knuckles to the ground, the bag toppling off of him, and swooped up in quick succession by a single bot.  
“Give that back, Egghead!” Sonic said, racing to stand in front of his friend, who was still dazed from the blast.  
“Hmm. I think not. Stealer’s keepers, loser’s weepers.”  
“That’s not even how the saying goes.” Amy said.  
“I know that!” Eggman snapped. The bag of gems now sitting on the dashboard of his egg-mobile. “Well, well, now this is a pretty sight.”  
Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles watched as seven glittering gems the size of a person’s fist spilled from the bag and into a canister in Eggman’s vehicle.  
“This is a very pretty sight indeed..” Eggman said.  
But before Eggman could say anything more, a dark shadow seemed to spill over the egg-mobile from the emeralds, collecting itself and rising up above Eggman.  
The trio below stood speechless as Eggman was now cowering from a dark thing, and two glowing eyes began to form.  
“ _YOU._ ” It growled.

“Sticks! I need to you hold them off while I get the hovercraft started!” Tails called to the badger, who seemed more than happy to bash some bot.  
“It would be my pleasure!” Sticks grinned, sliding to a stop and facing the robots that were behind them.  
_Yeesh. Would not want to be them right now._ Tails hopped into the cockpit of the craft closest to them, starting it up with minimal effort. “No time like the present.” Tails said to himself, pulling open a small panel, revealing a series of buttons labeled ‘R.C. Operations’.  
“Sticks! Hop on!” Tails called out, pushing all the buttons on the panel.  
Sticks finished off one last bot before racing to Tails’ craft, wide eyed as all three rose into the air in unison.  
“Tails, please tell me your stuff isn’t possessed by some ancient being bent on our ultimate destruction.”  
“Hardly,” Tails laughed, steering his craft—and subsequently the other two—up and away from the attacking bots and back towards the volcano. “Mass Remote Control! I always wanted to try it out!”  
“You couldn’t’ve tried it with something smaller first?” Sticks asked.  
“Where’s the fun in that?”  
“Oh boy.”

“Please don’t hurt me!” Eggman’s voice raised an octave as he was now shielding himself from whatever that thing was that had come from the emeralds.  
“You dare to try and possess _my_ power?” Chaos growled.  
“I didn’t even know it belonged to anybody!”

“All right guys,” Sonic looked to Amy and Knuckles, “Any guesses on what that thing might be?”  
“Some ancient being? It looked like it came from those emeralds Tails found in the volcano.” Amy said, watching it keenly.  
“Probable enough, Knuckles?”  
But Knuckles was staring at the being, his eyes narrowing. “Sonic,” he turned to Sonic, who was doing his best to not be too confused at Knuckles behavior. “Let’s get those emeralds!”  
Sonic studied his friend, then nodded. “Right!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Void Chaos isn't impressed.


	8. Round and Round

“Hey, Shado—lava lamp!” Sonic called to the being as he landed atop one of the larger bad-nics. “What’s your deal?”  
Chaos eyes turned to Sonic, but as it did, Eggman peeked out from behind his hands, and seeing that the shadow being was no longer focusing on him quickly pressed a button on the control panel.  
Sonic stood speechless as Chaos was pulled almost instantly from the air and back to the emeralds as the container they were in was sealed shut.  
“Well that was weird.” Eggman remarked quietly. “ROBOTS! Keep attacking these pests!” Eggman began to pull his craft higher into the air.  
Sonic rolled up and launched himself against a bad-nik, ricochetting himself into the air after Eggman. Only to fall short.  
“Amy, now!” Knuckles shouted.  
Sonic, still curled up tight, gritted his teeth as Amy’s hammer sent him back into the sky. Uncurling once he’d landed on Eggman’s egg-mobile. A glance behind him and Sonic could see Knuckles catching Amy as she fell from where Knuckle’s had tossed her to give Sonic a boost.  
“Get off, you blasted hedgehog!” Sonic was brought back to where he was as he dodged a hit from Eggman, who was now trying to fly and fight at the same time. _If only it worked in Sonic’s favor rather than throwing him off balance._  
“Wh-oa!” Sonic clung to the craft as he careened through the sky wildly, Eggman doing is best to dislodge the hedgehog by any means necessary.  
Sonic hung on gamely as long as he could, making a move for the canister whenever he had a free hand.  
But Eggman kept his craft on a unpredictable spin, taking them higher up only to drop them at a moments notice, until finally Sonic’s hold was barely holding on.  
“Will—you—get—OFF!”  
A last whirl and Sonic’s grip slid right off the edge of the windshield, falling towards the mountainside below.

As Sonic hurtled through the air towards the rocky ground below, he braced for impact.  
“Sonic!”  
Sonic looked around him, grinning broadly as Tails came flying towards him on one of the hovercraft. Reaching a hand out, Sonic caught onto the edge of the craft, pulling himself onto the roof of it.  
“Good timing, buddy!” Sonic grinned. “Think we can catch up to Eggman?”  
“Hold on tight!” Sonic readied himself as the hovercraft shot across the sky like a bullet, closing in on Eggman’s egg-mobile like it was standing still.  
“Keep ‘er steady!” Sonic said, getting ready to jump. _Closer. Just a little—now!_ Sonic leapt off the hovercraft, landing behind Eggman on his egg-mobile, tapping him on the shoulder.  
“What the—? HEY!” Eggman turned behind him, then forward only to see the canister with the emeralds gone from its place. Turning around Eggman watched furiously as Sonic sat atop Tails hovercraft, waving at Eggman with the canister.  
“This isn’t over, Sonic.” Eggman fumed. “Not by a long shot.”

“Hey Tails, once we’re out of range from… everything. You mind telling me what all this was about?” Sonic asked, now sitting in the passenger seat of the hovercraft, looking at the canister in a puzzled manner. The emeralds were visible, and whatever that shadow thing was was gone.  
“I’ll try, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to explain everything myself.”  
“Uh-huh.” Sonic noted Tails nervousness as he glanced back at the container. “Well let’s focus on the task at hand. Time to pick up the others!”  
“They’re already on their way to the meet-up point!” Tails said, “The volcano was getting too unstable. I don’t think we’ll be able to vent off the pressure this time, Sonic. The lava’s already flowing down the mountain.”  
“Anything in its path we should be concerned about?” Sonic asked, now able to see the slow moving trail of lava that was headed down the mountainside.  
“Sticks said the only thing that direction was her fourth bunker. She wasn’t too concerned about it.”  
“Then let’s head for home,” Sonic said, leaning back in his seat. “No sense in hanging around here.”  
“Roger that!”

But at the meet up point, Amy and Sticks kept a lookout for Sonic and Tails, while Knuckles focused solely on the large gem he’d found a while back.  
“Sticks, call me crazy, but I think Knuckles might be a tad obsessed with that gem.” Amy whispered to her friend.  
“You’re crazy. And I agree.” Sticks murmured, glancing back at Knuckles, who stood motionless before the gem. “I thought I could be obsessive. This guy takes it to a whole new level.”  
“I’m worried Sticks.” Amy continued to whisper.  
Sticks patted her friend on the shoulder, giving her a small smile. “Don’t worry Amy. Besides, if he does end up going all aztec warrior on us, there’s always my third bunker we could trap him in.”  
“There they are!” The girls jumped as Knuckles called out from behind them, pointing to the edge of the horizon where Tails’ hovercraft could now be seen.  
“And it looks like they got away without any of Eggman’s robots following them.” Amy noted.  
“Let’s just hope they didn’t bring anything else weird with them.” Sticks added.  
Amy and Knuckles looked at each other with a look of realization.  
“Now, Sticks,” Amy began. “You know how there are lots of ruins left by the ancients all over the island?”  
“Yeah, so what?” Sticks asked, unperturbed.  
“Well, you see…”


	9. A.B.O.U.P.

“What’s up, gang!” Sonic said, jumping from the hovercraft with a smile, canister still in hand.  
“We was all fine and dandy until Amy and Knuckles told me you have an ANCIENT BEING OF UNKNOWN POWER IN YOUR HAND!” Sticks yelled the final words with an accusative point at the canister.  
Sonic looked from Sticks to the others. “Well I see that went well.”  
“Better than expected, honestly.” Amy replied.  
“So what happens now?” Tails asked, exiting the craft and joining Sonic.  
“Now, you tell us what these are.” Sonic replied, holding the canister in front of Tails.  
“Ooh… right, those.” Tails laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head as he realized what he was about to tell them sounded crazier than Sticks.

Eggman strode towards his laboratory with newfound rage. Barely noticing as he brushed Orb-bot and Cube-bot aside on his way in, with not so much as derogatory insult.  
Sealing the door closed behind him, the two assistants waited motionless in the hall for a moment before either of them dared to speak.  
“I dare say something has the Bad Doctor in a state of extreme exasperation.” Orb-bot said quietly.  
“Yeah, and he looked pretty mad too.” Cube-bot added, less quietly.  
Orb-bot’s robotic shoulders dropped as he could only stare at his companion. “Let’s leave the Doctor to his work, I don’t want to be around here when something goes wrong.”  
The two bots headed away from the laboratory door, floating silently away as the sounds of machinery and massive tools roared to life behind them.

“So this thing kidnapped you, took you to an unstable volcano, and then asked you to save it from potentially being lost again for the next thousand years?” Sonic asked.  
Tails nodded, pointing to one of the emeralds inside the canister that now sat on his workbench. The group deciding that maybe it was better to discuss things inside for now. “They were embedded into the floor of the volcano, and Chaos told me that since Knuckles found the master emerald he’d been reawakened, and that Knuckles is its guardian!”  
“Okay now you’re just making stuff up.” Sonic said blandly.  
“I’m not! And I’ll prove it!” Tails reached for the canister, but a puff of air and a blink of an eye later and Sonic was on the other side of the table with the canister.  
“Sonic!” Tails cried.  
“Tails, what if this Chaos was just telling you these things so that you could release it?” Amy asked gently.  
Tails was silent.  
“Tails, we have no idea what this is going to do when we open it back up. It seemed pretty mad when Eggman got it. How do we know it won’t just lash out as soon as we open it back up?”  
“It won’t.” Tails said, his paws once again forming into fists. “You don’t believe me.”  
“I’m just tryin’ to look out for you buddy.”  
“Then let me open it.” Tails said.  
Amy, Knuckles, and Sticks stood silently, watching as Tails stared Sonic down. Sonic, looking almost bored, said nothing.  
Just as Tails was about to turn away, he jumped as the canister came at him from the other side of the table.  
“Fine.” Sonic said flatly. “But first sign of trouble we close that thing back up.” He pointed to the canister. “Got it?”  
“Got it!” Tails smiled, heading to grab his toolbox. “We’ll need to do it near the master emerald, I don’t know if Chaos has the strength to do anything anymore.”  
The others all watched as Tails hurried about grabbing some things. Amy moved over to Sonic, speaking low. “Sonic, can we really trust Tails with this? I mean…” She wasn’t sure what to say.  
“Tails yes.” Sonic said almost huffily. “Chaos no.” he looked at Amy, outwardly still appearing almost bored with the whole thing. “I’m not in any rush to trust something that’s name implies something short of imminent destruction.”  
“All right!” Tails chirped up from where he now stood with a large assortment of computer parts and tools ready to go. “Let’s do this, gang!”  
“Sonic, for his sake, I hope your wrong.” Amy murmured.  
“Yeah,” Sonic said quietly, watching as Knuckles hefted a large box of the stuff Tails gathered onto his shoulder. “Me too.”

Sonic tapped his foot as he stood behind Tails. Tails had several cables connected from his computer to the canister holding the emeralds and Chaos, just a short distance away from the master emerald and Knuckles. Amy and Sticks stood waiting on either side of the plateau, just in case.  
“Okay, just a few more lines of code and I should have this canister open!” Tails said happily, his tails twitching in excitement.  
Sonic watched as—true to his word—Tails punched in a few more lines of code into his laptop, and the top of the canister opened with a hiss.  
Standing totally still, Sonic watched as an inky blackness oozed out of the canister and onto the ground. _Chaos._ Pulling itself together, it now rose only half of Sonic’s height off the ground, the two yellow eyes forming to look in the direction of the master emerald. Then turning around to where Sonic and Tails were; Sonic grimaced slightly.  
“ _Thank you._ ” Chaos voice was still almost omniscient, but it seemed more tired than before. Slowly it almost crept along the ground like a shadow, stopping just short of the master emerald.  
“ _How I’ve missed you old friend._ ” Chaos voice was heard across the plateau. Then, something nobody was expecting to have happen, happened.  
Chaos seemed to detach from the emeralds in the canister, and appeared to go into the master emerald. And as he did, both it, and the seven others began to glow brightly. So brightly that Sonic and the others had to look away. But Sonic peered between his fingers, a surprising sight meeting him before the light became too blinding to watch. Chaos was transforming. The blackness faded until what had looked like a shadow now looked like crystal clear water, and… _Did Chaos just smile?_  
Almost as soon as it had begun, it ended, and the five friends were left on the plateau complete unharmed. Or so it seemed.

“Knuckles!” Amy’s voice brought Sonic back to the present. Looking to his friend, Sonic saw Knuckles sitting against the master emerald, unconscious.  
Dashing to his friend’s side, the others gathered around them. “Knuckles?” Amy’s voice almost quivered.  
Knuckles gasped, his eyes opening wide, causing the others to take a step back.  
“Knuckles, you okay?” Sonic asked.  
“Yeah, I…” Knuckles rubbed his head, making a face like he’d just gotten bonked on the head. “I had the weirdest dream.”  
“Yeah…” Sonic and the others chuckled. _Oh how are we gonna explain this one to him._  
“I dreamt I’d lost my memories and I was an idiot.”  
_What._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ancient. Being. Of. Unknown. Power.


	10. Knock Knock

Sonic, Amy, Tails, heck even Sticks, was feeling like they were being thrown through a loop. Ever since Chaos had gone into the Master Emerald and Knuckles had woken up from… whatever it was he’d woken up from, he’d been a completely different Echidna.  
“So you’re saying, that wasn’t a dream? That I was actually buying some of that stuff Barker told me?” Knuckles asked Amy, who was handling the whole ordeal a lot more easily than the others.  
“Among, other things.” Amy replied with a gentle smile.  
Sonic was hovering over Tails’ shoulder as Tails went through the data his computer had collected during the flash.  
“A lot of this data doesn’t make any sense, nothing here could possibly have led to Knuckles being affected!”  
“Unless it wasn’t science!” Sticks said, hopping out from behind the Master Emerald. “Maybe it was magic!”  
“Really, Sticks?” Amy asked, halfheartedly. “You know as well as I do that even in the ancient writings and temples we’ve found we have no evidence to support magic as being a catalyst here.”  
“Because magic was a constant, not a sudden influx.” Knuckles said, crossing his arms.  
Amy paused, looking from Sticks to Knuckles, feeling caught off guard. “And how do you know this?”  
“I’ve always known it.” Knuckles said. “That and the Master Emerald is the main source of power for most magical phenomenon throughout time. Even the Chaos Emeralds are connected to the Master Emerald. So anything they do kinda is the Master Emerald’s power by proxy.”  
“Sonic!”

“So what’s the deal Tails, Chaos is gone and now Knuckles is… smarter?” Sonic asked Tails who was combing through all the data that had been captured on his computer during the event.  
“I’m not sure. Somehow there’s a link between Knuckles and the Master Emerald that we were unaware of.” A small diagram appeared on the screen, showing mini icons of the emerald, Knuckles, and Chaos. “When Chaos bonded with the Master Emerald, a massive power spike went to Knuckles and the Chaos Emeralds, which caused the flash that we all saw!”  
“Including ME!”

All eyes turned upwards as the raucous laugh of Eggman rang out across the plateau, descending from above them in his egg-mobile.  
“Eggman!” They all said in unison.  
“How did you find us?” Sonic demanded.  
“Really? Did you not just hear me saying I saw that bright flash of light that went off just a moment ago? Kinda hard to miss it.” Eggman said.  
“Yeah, no, I just—nevermind. You won’t get away with this!” Sonic replied.  
“Oh! I beg to differ! ROBOTS, ATTAAAACK!”  
From seemingly nowhere dozens of robots of all kinds surrounded them on all sides.  
“I’ll be leaving here with those emeralds, and whatever that thing is inside them too!”  
“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Sonic said, bouncing off of several bad-niks before racing to the canister, snatching it off the ground before the extending arm of Eggman’s egg-mobile could reach it.  
“Ooooh, blast you you blue rodent!”  
Sonic dodged, avoiding three quick rockets, leaving behind three charred patches of ground. “You want the emeralds, come and get ‘em!” Sonic raced off down the side of the mountain, the doctor following not far behind him.  
“That’s why I attacked you in the first place, you ungrateful wretch!”  
Sonic laughed. 

“Tails, we’ve got to help Sonic!” Amy shouted, smashing another bot under her hammer.  
“I know!” Tails cluncked one behind the processor, flying toward Amy. “But if we don’t stop these guys they’ll get the Master Emerald!”  
“You let me worry about these!” Amy and Tails turned to see Knuckles standing in front of the Master Emerald, and almost visible red glow coming from around him.  
“But you’ll be outnumbered! They’ll get the emerald!” Amy insisted.  
“I’d like to seem them try.” Knuckles grinned, crouching low before delivering a shattering uppercut to the bot closest to him. Letting out a yell.  
Sticks looked to Amy and Tails, who were speechless as they watched Knuckles take down bot after bot that came at him.  
“You two go, I’ll stay and help Knuckles!”  
“You got it, Sticks!” Amy replied, saluting to her friend. “Come on Tails, I hope we can reach Sonic in time!”

“You know Egghead, you really need to work on your timing.” Sonic stood on the last remaining green patch of grass along the edge of the lake, the rest a dark burnt color with thin smoke raising from it. Eggman’s face turned an especially dark shade of red as he fumed from his position in the air.  
“All right, Sonic. Now you’ve forced my hand.”  
Sonic could see Eggman pushing a series of buttons on his console, turning yet a darker shade of red.  
“You know, if you wanted to beat me you’d have to copy m—“  
Sonic felt the air pushed out of his lungs as he flew to one side, the canister of emeralds slipping from his grasp. Landing with a dull thud, Sonic looked back to where he had been—almost half way back across the edge of the lake—and saw something holding the canister in his place.  
“What was that, Sonic? I couldn’t quite catch all of that, not before Metal Sonic pummeled you.” Eggman grinned sinisterly.  
 _I thought we’d seen the last of that guy._ Sonic wiped the back of his hand across his jaw, grimacing.  
“Thought you’d seen the last of him, eh?” Eggman continued. “You’d be right. Because this is a new an improved model, I’ve been improving his design since last time you fought him with the help of Shadow. Only this time,” Eggman lowered his craft, taking the canister from Metal Sonic. “You don’t have Shadow to help you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sonic should know by now that Eggman can only take so much taunting before he's going to do something about it.


	11. Sonic Boom

Sonic rose to one knee, focusing hard on Metal Sonic while the Doctor continued to congratulate himself on a job well done, holding the canister proudly in the light.  
 _Looks like it’s time for me to stop messing around._  
Standing to his feet, sliding one foot a little further back, Sonic could see that Metal was following his movements.  
Eggman paused in his gloating as he saw the two hedgehogs preparing to square off. “Maybe I better watch this from a safe distance… for research purposes.”  
As Eggman’s egg-mobile retreated into the air once again, Sonic and Metal Sonic headed towards each other at seemingly impossible speeds.  
Sonic needed to know just how much Eggman had improved his latest model. And it seemed for the moment like he was right. Metal Sonic was dodging his every attack, sliding well out of range by the time Sonic went to land a hit. Sonic himself barely avoiding Metal’s own attacks in the process.  
 _You really went all out Egghead. This guy’s barely avoiding the safety limit._  
From up above, Eggman chuckled once again. “You see Sonic, he doesn’t have to be faster than you to start out with—he just has to last longer than you can.”  
“So that’s your play?” Sonic said, he and Metal having just rebounded from spinning against each other, sending them sliding across the charred ground.  
“Make something only second rate and hope I won’t smash it to bits before it can do it’s thing?” Sonic bantered, but he was breathing heavily. Metal Sonic was fast. But he was a machine, and Eggman had already told Sonic what he needed to know.  
“Yo, Metal!”  
Metal Sonic’s head twitched, turning almost entirely around to face Sonic, his body turning after.  
 _Okay, gross. Even for a robot._  
“Think you can do this?” Sonic’s fists were tight as he gritted his teeth, smiling.

Tails and Amy broke through the clearing of the jungle only to be greeted by charred earth, and a face-off between two hedgehogs.  
“Sonic!” Amy called out, but as she did the two blurs sped toward each other head on.  
Sonic locked eyes with Metal Sonic, but at the last moment before contact, made the sharpest right turn he could manage.  
Right across the ocean’s surface.

_“Sonic! Do you read? Sonic!”_  
Sonic didn’t respond, racing across the surface of the ocean, barely breaking the surface only to race back, sending another shockwave shimmering through the air. First past Mach, now past sound.  
He never dared to do this on the island, too many variables, not to mention— _you better be out of the danger zone guys._

Tails saw the small shimmer above the ocean, gasping as he put down his binoculars.  
"Amy we've got to get out of here!"  
"But what about Sonic?”  
"He just broke the sound barrier!"

Sonic raced. The island was in view and in less than a second he'd be there on the lake’s surface. _Come on Metal, try and prove you're better!_  
As if hearing Sonic's challenge, as the blue hedgehog hit land and then the lake's surface, the metal creation charged towards him. The two now racing on the surface of the lake in tandem.

Tails, carrying Amy up and away from the lake, paused his ascent mid flight. The two of them speechless as a swirling vortex of water was forming, reaching for the sky as the two blue blurs chased each other at the bottom of the lake.  
"What does Sonic think he's doing?" Amy cried.  
Tails' eyes widened with realization. "He's going to bring the lake down on Metal Sonic!"

Sonic was lagging, he could feel it, but if this crazy plan was going to work he'd need to burst out of the vortex faster than Metal Sonic could process his next move. But that was impossible now. The burst to take him beyond the sound barrier had waned, bringing him back down steadily until both he and Metal were swirling at mach 1.

The tunnel of water above them loomed like an eerie warning. A warning that should they stop it would tumble back down like a tidal wave. Sonic looked at Metal, who turned its head to stare at Sonic. Sonic gritted his teeth. _I'm sorry guys._

Tails set Amy down once again at the edge of the jungle, this time watching Eggman, who seemed as unnerved by the outcome as they were.  
"What the devil does that hedgehog think he's doing?"  
"Amy look!" Tails whispered, pointing to the canister of emeralds.  
A gentle warm glow came from the center of the emeralds, but Eggman hadn't seemed to notice yet.  
"Is it Chaos?" Amy asked.  
"I don't think so, Chaos went into the master Emerald. I don't know what could be controlling them now."

Sonic thought of his friends. How this plan had to work. _I can't let Eggman use Metal Sonic any more!_ Sonic felt himself begin to heat up, whether with determination or anger he couldn't tell.  
But across the island, inside the master emerald, Chaos eyes opened for a moment. A familiar feeling temporarily awakening him. If chaos could, he would have smiled.

 _Well done Sonic. But…_ Chaos closed his eyes, focusing on the energy he now felt. _You are not ready yet._

As Sonic saw himself catching up to Metal Sonic once again, the heat building within him, before he was close enough to reach out and touch him, Metal Sonic's head turned to see Sonic race up the wall of spiraling water and up to the top. A golden white glow coming from the hedgehog. But as Sonic locked eyes with his metal duplicate one last time, reaching the top of the vortex, he grinned, giving a mock salute.

"See you never, Metal head!”

The last thing Metal Sonic saw, was a faintly glowing hedgehog floating in the middle of the opening of the vortex, and spin itself opposite the flow of the water. Before Metal Sonic could calculate a trajectory, the entire body of lake water that had been above him came crashing down.

Tails and Amy both cried out as a glowing light raced along the inside of the vortex, stopping for a bare breath of a moment at the top, before a blast of air sent them sprawling along the jungle floor. A gentle mist floating past them as they sat up, dazed.  
"Was that..." Amy couldn't think.  
"Sonic." Tails whispered.

The world was clear. For a breathtaking moment, everything was as clear as newly cut crystal. The waters that had crashed over Metal Sonic sparkled and glittered as the surface began to settle. The wind soothing and gentle. Even the sun seemed to be just that much brighter and clearer, like after a heavy storm.  
Sonic felt weightless in the midst of all this. But only for a moment. A moment in time where Sonic felt himself standing still dozens of feet in the air. Then it passed. As softly as the moment came, it had gone. And with it, a mixture of bittersweet realization. Metal Sonic was gone, crushed under who knows how many tons of water. But Sonic himself was in an equally unfortunate position.  
The world began to look fuzzy, the colors becoming just a touch less bright and clear. That’s when Sonic realized.

_I’m falling._

Sonic counted speed as a blessing, but right now it felt like anything but. Thinking thoughts a mile a micro-minute the fall seemed to last an eternity.  
 _Metal Sonic’s gone. But… Eggman! Eggman had the emeralds!… Dang it I never should’ve let those kids at the pool push me around… Tails is gonna be mad… Amy’s gonna be madder than usual… Did I seriously just fly? What’s gonna—_

Sonic’s thoughts came to an abrupt stop, his surroundings a swirling fuzzy mass as he felt the undeniable sensation of water spray across his face. But it was the jarring pain that went through his right shoulder and arm that woke him up, even if momentarily.  
Sonic’s looking, saw the determined face of Tails, carrying him above the water’s surface. Sonic’s hearing was muffled, he hadn’t noticed until that moment that up till now he that hadn’t heard a thing from his surroundings.  
Feeling the ground beneath him now, the warm sand a welcoming sensation. Sonic’s vision became blurry and dark one again, but this time he grinned. Giving a feeble yet definite thumbs up as he saw Tails kneeling beside him.  
“Good… job……… Buddy.”

Sonic relaxed as the world went fully black, the undeniable voice of Tails fading into the distance as Sonic slipped into unconsciousness.

Then Sonic dreamed. Emeralds, swirling figures, glowing figures, all seeming to coincide and come together into one place. But as quickly as the dream formed, it left, leaving Sonic to fall into a dreamless slumber.

When Sonic woke up, it was with a hunger to rival all hungers. He felt like he’d just run a triple marathon followed by a stiff competition in bot smashing. His stomach growled with anger as he sat up, the smell of grilled food now reaching him.  
Attempting to stand up, Sonic quickly regretted the motion, as he head began to swirl and pound. Sitting back on his hammock for a moment, he mumbled. “Man, who put me on a no food diet.”  
“Sonic!”  
Sonic looked up to see Tails running towards him. Grunting slightly as Tails seemed to plow into him, Sonic patted his friend on the back as he tried to breath.  
“Good to see you too, buddy, but uh… mind letting go? I can’t breath.”  
“Sorry!” Tails took a step back as Sonic took a deep breath, looking beat.  
“What’s up, Tails? You look like I just came back from the dead.”  
Tails rubbed the back of his head, giving a weak laugh. “Well for a minute there we thought you might be.”  
“Ah…” Sonic had no response to this.  
“But!” Tails continued, looking far more chipper than should’ve been possible at this particular moment. “What do you remember?”  
“Remember?” Sonic sat still for a moment, thinking back. I was dreaming… but then…  
“How about you tell me what happened and then I’ll let you know that I remember it.”  
Tails complied. Explaining the part of the fight that he and Amy had seen, starting mostly with the sight of Sonic breaking the sound barrier, all up until Sonic’s apparent floating escapade.  
“How did you do that by the way?” Tails asked.  
Sonic had no idea. _But if I tell him that he’s gonna pester me for weeks to run tests. Uuuggghhhh._  
“I don’t really know, but Metal couldn’t keep up. And that’s good enough for me.”  
“Hmm..” Tails looked thoughtful for a moment. “We should run some tests later to see what we can find.”  
 _The things I do for my friends._  
“Sure thing, Tails. But first, please tell me that food is for me?”

Outside of Sonic’s hut, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks had a full blown feast prepared, but all of the food was dwarfed by the steaming plate of chili dogs that was set in front of Sonic.  
Amy tried to smile as Sonic blatantly ignored the large salad she’d prepared, but given how long he’d been out she did her best not to begrudge him that.  
“So, Sonic.” Amy waited until Sonic had polished off the last chili dog, although he was now eyeing the large tub of potato salad. “I’m glad you’re okay, but what happened between you and Metal Sonic?”  
Sonic stopped mid scoop of potato salad, not sure how to respond. “I uh… Eggman didn’t make him as fast and he thought he had, I still had more in the tank than that old bucket of bolts.” He chuckled.  
“Uh huh.”  
 _Yeah I didn’t think she’d buy that._  
“Well, it seems like as good a time as any then to tell you that Eggman got away with the emeralds.”  
Sonic took a bite of potato salad, mulling the information over.  
“Not to worry Ames, I bet ten chili dogs that whatever it is Eggman’s going to try and use them for he won’t get far. Not if Chaos’ reaction to him was anything to go by.”  
“But Chaos isn’t in those emeralds anymore.” Tails added. “So who knows if he still has any connection to them.”  
Sonic was silent for a moment, looking across the table before replying.  
“Well no matter what, even if Eggman does build something using those emeralds,” Sonic looked up to the plateau where the Master Emerald, lit up by the setting sun, sat brilliantly. “We’ve got a friend who might hold the master key.”

Orb-bot and Cube-bot once again stood just outside the Doctor’s lair. But this time the door was wide open. They watched in silence, and robotic bated breath as the evil Doctor Eggman placed the last of the seven emeralds into a sealed container atop a pedestal. All seven emeralds were in identical containers, set in a large circle around the lab, in the center of the circle was a large platform with a glowing surface, the entire room reeking of electricity and pent up energy.  
“I do hope the bad Doctor knows what he’s about to attempt.” Orb-bot whispered.  
“Yeah, and that he knows what he’s gonna try too.”  
Orb-bot nearly smacked his yellow compatriot. But before he could, the room became illuminated with a brilliant bright blue light.  
“HAHA! YES!”  
Orb-bot squinted his visual processors, and couldn’t believe his circuits. Ever since the evil Doctor had brought over a shapeshifting life form they all called Steve, Eggman had left dimensional travel well alone for the most part, but it seemed that now that was about to change.  
“You two!”  
Orb-bot and Cube-bot rose to attention as they realized they weren’t quite as well hidden as they had thought.  
“Start recording.”  
The two robots began recording via their own visual and auditory sensors, but the whole ordeal was almost too much.  
“Thanks to that fool Sonic, and his blasted friends, I may have lost Metal Sonic. But they’ve given me something far more powerful to work with.”  
“And, what might that be, Sir?” Orb-bot asked tentatively.  
Eggman grinned, and in the flickering white and blue lights of the lab it had a most unnerving effect.  
“Something I’ve only ever dreamed of!” Eggman replied, turning back to face the device.

The device in the center of the room looked to be discharging massive amounts of energy, the emeralds in their respective containers looked to be trembling with power. As Orb-bot looked to Eggman, the look of grim pleasure made Orb-bot shudder.  
“Soon,” Eggman grinned. “Soon there won’t be a dimension that will be beyond my reach.”  
Orb-bot turned off his audio sensors as the Doctor proceeded to laugh. But if he hadn’t. Orb-bot would’ve heard the computer warning alert the Doctor.  
It wasn’t until Orb-bot turned back to the Doctor that he saw the look of confusion on the man’s face. Audio back on, Orb-bot turned to the main device just in time to see the whole thing blind the room with blue and white light.

And when it had faded away, two figures lay on the platform, motionless.  
“Well…” Eggman whispered, “That’s uh… unexpected.”  
Orb-bot moved slightly closer to the figures, before stopping in a mixture of shock and horror.  
A pure white hedgehog, with eerie markings. And a purple creature that had been long thought extinct.  
“A… chameleon?” Orb-bot murmured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh ho ho, who do we have here? ;D
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this! It was written over the course of last year, and is now seeing the light of day. I have already begun work on a sister fic for the events that will follow, but I can't guarantee when that'll be posted. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed reading my first Sonic Boom fanfiction!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to punkinspice for helping me through this fic every chapter of the way! I hope you all enjoy what's to come!


End file.
